Joss Whedon Says Not to Expect a Firefly Kickstarter… Yet

Following yesterday’s record-setting Kickstarter to fund a Veronica Mars feature film, the internet has been abuzz with ideas about what a similar approach could mean for the future of similar fan-favorite properties. Naturally, Joss Whedon’s short-lived-but-much-loved “Firefly” appeared at the top of a lot of wish lists. Buzzfeed managed to catch up with the Marvel’s The Avengers director to get his thoughts on maybe one day returning to the Verse.

“My fourth feeling when I read about [it] was a kind of dread,” says Whedon, who admits he was, at first, overjoyed to learn about the success of the Kickstarter. “Because I realized the only thing that would be on everybody’s mind right now. I’ve said repeatedly that I would love to make another movie with these guys, and that remains the case. It also remains the case that I’m booked up by Marvel for the next three years, and that I haven’t even been able to get Dr. Horrible 2 off the ground because of that. So I don’t even entertain the notion of entertaining the notion of doing this, and won’t. Couple years from now, when Nathan [Fillion]’s no longer Castle and I’m no longer the Tom Hagen of the Marvel Universe and making a giant movie, we might look and see where the market is then.”

Whedon, who was such a fan of “Veronica Mars” that he ended up playin a role on the series’ second season episode “Rat Saw God”, says that one of the tricky aspects of attempting more “Firefly”, be it as further episodes or as another film like 2005’s Serenity, is overcoming substantial budgetary restrictions.

“I think anything we could get off the ground would be appreciated by the fans,” he continues, “But what form it would take is I think under some debate. For me, [Kickstarter] doesn’t just open the floodgates. God knows, things are cheaper now than when we made even ‘Serenity’. Good effects can be done in a different manner. Nor is that universe all about spectacle either. But it is a tad more expensive  and a little all-consuming! And of course, there’s the other fear: What if it’s not that good? I can do something that’s not that good  that’s fine. But if I do that and it’s not that good, I’m going to feel really stupid.”

For the time being, it looks like Whedon has his hands full, but that may change sometimes after the May 1, 2015 release of Marvel’s The Avengers 2.